Human Capital in Gender and Development

✍ Scribed by Sydney Calkin

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 201
• Series: Routledge Studies in Gender and Global Politics
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Human Capital in Gender and Development addresses timely feminist debates about the relationship between feminism, neoliberalism, and international development. The book engages with human capital theory, a labour economics theory associated with the Chicago School that now animates a wide range of political and economic governance. The book argues that human capital theory has been instrumental in constructing an economistic vision of gender equality as a tool for economic growth, and girls and women of the global South as the quintessential entrepreneurs of the post-global financial crisis era.

The book’s critique of human capital theory and its role in Gender and Development gives insights into the kinds of development interventions that typify the ‘Gender Equality as Smart Economics’ agenda of the World Bank and other international development institutions. From the World Bank, to NGOs, and private businesses, discourses about the economic benefits of gender equality and women’s empowerment underpin a range of development interventions that aim to unlock the ‘untapped’ potential of the world’s women. Its implications are both conceptual and material, producing more interventionist forms of development governance, increased power by private sector actors in development, and de-politicization of gender equality issues.

Human Capital in Gender and Development will be of particular interest to feminist scholars in Politics, International Relations, Development Studies, and Human Geography. It will also be a useful resource for teaching key debates about feminism, neoliberalism, and international development.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
List of illustrations
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
Position and aims
Organization of the argument
References
1. Feminism, Neoliberalism, and Development
Introduction
From “Women in Development” to “Gender Equality as Smart Economics”
The co-optation blues
Is there feminist life after co-optation?
A response through post-structuralism
Conclusion
References
2. A Feminist Critique of Human Capital Theory
Introduction
From the Chicago School to the post-Washington Consensus
Foucauldian and feminist engagements with human capital
A feminist critique of human capital theory
Conclusion
References
3. Gender, Development and Smart Economics at the World Bank
Introduction
Development Bank, “Knowledge Bank”
Gender and development in the World Bank
Human capital in the post-Washington Consensus Bank
Smart Economics and beyond
The 2012 World Development Report
Conclusion
Note
References
4. Unlocking Female Resources
Introduction
Core concepts: Gender, markets and equality
Motherhood and reproduction
Pliant and resilient subjects
Inculcating market mentalities
Conclusion
Note
References
5. Girl Effects
Introduction
The landscape of global girl power
Divergent girlhoods
“Girls Mean Business”
Familiar solutions
Conclusion
References
6. Human Capital, Private Profit
Introduction
Private governance in gender and development
Corporate social responsibility
Cause-related marketing
Bottom of the Pyramid development
Conclusion
Notes
References
Conclusion
References
Index